Matt Flegal reviews a new and detailed book on German camouflage schemes from 1945 and hypothetical later ones as well.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Nice review, Matt. Good work and glad to see this sort of book. While it might ruffle the feathers of some historians to see modelers weighing in on camo colors, the plain fact of the matter is that we don't get a lot of guidance from the photographic record.

Just look at how long it has been to gain even moderate acceptance of the duo-camo patterns of EW Panzers? Even now, most kit manufacturers default to solid panzer gray, and a lot of modelers I speak with insist there is no widespread evidence to support a gray-brown combination.

After reading the review looks like the book is worth a look at least but not exactly what I was expecting...I think that right now there´s enough info to build a solid book on late war schemes and colors. Given that many of the schemes were factory painted and based in official templates a little investigation could have provided enough info for at least several five view plates (Let´s say 234 late, JagdPz 38t, Tiger II, Panther G, StuG III G ...)that could be used as basis by all modellers. Some could consider that strictly sticking to a scheme would made models "boring" or "repetitive" but A. Tello´s 234/4 is a perfect example of 234 late scheme (Both 234/1 and /4)in all details and I´m sure nobody finds it "boring"...
Regarding "colors" when we have mostly B&W pictures there will be always discrepancies between modellers, just look how SCW Panzer I are still depicted as Grey even in the most serious and respectable works

Agreed. For what it is designed to be the book is excellent. However, my plea to them (or anyone at this point) is we need a reference for the boring stuff now. What were the factory specific patterns and what time frame did they cover? Do the same for specific units where possible. And for God's sake, primers! Please cover primers! Did the barrels truly come in there shades of grey based on production? Which fittings didn't get the red primer, or got a different hue? The good piece of this book is that, for 1945 at least, I have everything I need now for side color profiles. There are lots of them here and the artwork is the best I've seen. Now, if they wanted to do follow ups that covered, say, 1939-1941 and 1942-1944 I'd buy them!

Matt